Recently in Odds and Ends Category

The renaming of the Triborough Bridge and a recent outing with a group of students to see the Broadway musical In the Heights got me thinking about the bridge that I saw everyday growing up : the George Washington Bridge. My parents lived near Columbia University on Riverside Drive facing the Hudson River, and you could see the GWB from their window. Even as a child, I knew that there was something unmistakable about that bridge, something distinctive about its look. After college, I worked at IBM in White Plains before embarking on a long trip in February of 1984. I was living with my parents, and I remember looking forward to the sight of the bridge as I drove home during late fall and early winter evenings, backlit by the reddish glow of the sun setting behind the Palisades. The light would shine through the criss-crossed bracings of the bridge, and I would drive directly under it on my way to Riverside Drive.

In fact, it's precisely those bracings that give the George Washington Bridge its distinctive look. Here's what I just learned: they weren't intended to be left exposed. The bridge was begun in 1927, and the original plans called for the towers to be encased in granite and concrete. But financial concerns and the fact that many people simply liked the way the exposed steel looked led to a change in plans.

When it opened in 1931, the bridge had one deck and four lines. Two more lanes were added in 1946, and in 1962 the lower deck was opened. People referred to it as "Martha."

The set of In the Heights features a representation of the bridge as part of its central backdrop. The musical takes place in and around 183rd Street.

If you're interested in my thoughts on the musical, take a look at this post from The Common Room, the blog of NYU's  University Hall.

[Photo from the New York Times.]

25 years ago yesterday Michael Jackson's "Thriller" debuted. Yesterday, 73 fans reenacted the dance at Madame Tussaud's in Times Square in an attempt to break the Guinness record for the most people to do the dance at once. Local ABC report, with video, here, and a nice account from the Times's City Room blog here. (Photo credit goes to the latter.)

Alas, the Times story contains the bad news that the record had already been broken  last weekend by a group of over 800 dancers in Austin, Texas, part of a worldwide  "Thriller" dance-off that included  over 4,000 people across the globe. The Texans, as the Village Voice's news blog snarked, "presumably [danced] with their thumbs in their beltloops."

The full 13-minute original, which I tried to pretend I hated in the 8th grade but like everyone else was actually blown away by, is here (sorry, embedding disabled).

Do you know Kevin Walsh's Forgotten New York?

I've had a copy for a year or so, and every once in a while remember to pack it with me when I'm heading to an unfamiliar neighborhood. (There's also an accompanying blog, cheerfully cluttered, that's well worth checking regularly.)

The book offers hundreds of out-of-the-way or in-plain-sight-but-easily-overlooked details from the city's past, broken into categories like "Truly Forgotten," "Quiet Places," or "What's This Thing?" It's  designed for New Yorkers rather than tourists; it's for people constantly on the look for little glimpses into lost parts of the city.

I rarely use the book to find a destination for an afternoon outing, say, but when I pack it along it always adds a nice dimension to a trip to or from somewhere I already wanted to go. A few weekends ago, ssw and I took our bikes and headed up the paths along the Hudson. We weren't sure how far we'd go, though we had a vague idea we wanted to go kayaking up at Pier 96 before the weather turned. Once we were done (and had spent enough time spread out in the sun to dry our asses off) we got back on our bikes and headed up as high as St. Clair Place, around 125th street.

I had my copy of FN in my basket, and vaguely had some idea that we were close to Grant's Tomb, which we'd never managed to visit. So we circled around until we hit Riverside Drive, pumped our way up the rather steep hill, and made our way back a few blocks to 123rd St.

Do you know who's buried at Grant's Tomb? I'm sheepish to admit I didn't know the answer to that riddle until we visited with FN's assistance.

One minor disappointment, though. I remembered, when the Hudson River path hit St. Clair Place and we decided to stop our journey north, that FN had an entry explaining that street's name. It accompanies the entry on Grant's Tomb, in fact. It has to do not with the more famous tomb, but with an obscure grave nearby:

Five-year-old St. Clair Pollock was playing on the rocks overlooking the Hudson River on the Pollock property, and fell to his death on July 15, 1797. When the Pollocks later sold the property, his father (perhaps his uncle; records are unclear) made the request that St. Clair's grave, which was on the property, would always be respected. A small stone urn remains marked, "Erected to the memory of an amiable child." St. Clair is also commemorated with the very short St. Clair Place, which runs between the Hudson River and West 125th Street under the Riverside Drive Viaduct, about a half mile to the north.

We only spent about 15 minutes looking for it, but we couldn't find the little stone urn, which is supposedly a little ways "up Riverside" (I assumed that meant north), "standing by itself, surrounded by an iron fence."

I suppose I'll have to go back and look again. Tip for bikers: ride back downtown as far as you can along Riverside Drive itself, which is somewhat more spectacular than I would have imagined and certainly lusher than a ride along the river at that point.

Now that WaMu's been seized by the government (before being sold off to JP Morgan) is it too much to ask that we get all our corner 99 cent stores and bodegas back?

Photo from an old 1000 Bars post, lamenting the Brooklyn Bank Virus.

A rather remarkable drama unfolded last week over on Colin Beavan's No Impact Man blog:

After nearly being crushed by a black Mercedes driven by a recognizable state senator, Jeff Klein, who happens to have an autocentric voting record to say the least, not to mention a foul mouth and a general lack of civility, Beavan asked his readers to phone Klein's office to demand he meet with Beavan and others from Transportation Alternatives.

I'm impressed most of all by Beavan's call for his readers to exercise civility even as they engage in this little bit of political and environmental activism. When I get squeezed off the road by a suit in a black Mercedes, I often lose my temper and come out with the same kind of language Klein deals in. My bad.

In any case, after hundreds of phonecalls, Klein's office agreed to set up the meeting. Should be interesting.

Via Streetsblog. Photo credit: ABC News.

BY JESSIE MORGAN-OWENS

Three years ago this month, the New York Times ran a story called "Philadelphia Story: The Next Borough." The article stuck with me because it reported that the cost of living in Philadelphia is 37 percent lower than New York, making Philly an attractive option for Brooklyn artists just like me. With $800 a month apartments even in tony Rittenhouse Square, a lively arts scene, and a 75-minute train commute, "Philadelphia's Brooklynization" seemed inevitable.

(The Times ran a telling correction the following week: "An article last Sunday about New York artists who are moving to Philadelphia for housing bargains misstated the location of an $800-a-month apartment in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood. It is at 22nd and Spruce Streets, not on the square itself.")

I'm half of the photography team Morgan & Owens. We live in Brooklyn and are in desperate need of studio space. So when we got the assignment to photograph a feature on Philadelphia for Budget Travel, I did a little research. We spent three days this past week photographing the Philly scene, and we asked everyone we met whether they believe in this "Sixth Borough" hype. Turns out the only Philadelphians who refer to their city this way used to live in New York.

This was my fifth visit, and I'm here to say: Philly has a totally different pace of life and culture. Local quote: "Philly's dope. Everyone just skates and hangs out." Apples and Oranges.

So if you're thinking of finding a new Brooklyn, follow New York Magazine's hint and head to Buffalo. If you want an urban alternative to Brooklyn but can't afford Manhattan, try Center City Philadelphia. It only sort of looks like New York on the surface if you squint, but that might be all the city you require for $800 a month. You might find you like Philly better.

As for us, we're sticking with Brooklyn for now. Here's just a few pros and cons I jotted in my notebook while out shooting in the city of brotherly love.

These murals are gorgeous.
How far out does Fairmount Park go?
Parking is a mess, but at least I talked my way out of the ticket.
Ben Franklin owns this town.
Federal tourism is a hit!
I haven't seen this many homeless people since 1995.
Obama's acceptance speech, screened in front of Independence Hall, just sparked a 30-person electric slide. Swing state?
Everyone keeps telling me what a small town this is.
Everyone seems to know each other.
Seriously? Beer costs $4?

If you're thinking of visiting, do it now. Philly's Fringe Festival is going strong for the next three weeks.

First day of school, and while I'd like to have something intelligent to say about the pluses or minuses of the mayor's plan to maintain his vice vise grip on public school curricula, all I can muster the energy to ask is this:

Am I really old enough to have a kid starting high school?

Here's a little beginning of the school year wish for NYC kids:

I blogged this elsewhere last year, but this afternoon I'm leading an annual Sweets and Cheap Eats on the LES walking tour for students returning to the Residential College where I live as faculty in residence.

If you were to add something to this tour, what would it be?